


Coffee and Tears

by hunnyB



Series: RWBY Fanfictions Volume 8 [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Blake just wants to reunite with her gf, Blake needs a hug, Canon Compliant, Canon Rewrite, During Canon, F/F, Mentioned Adam Taurus, Mentioned Yang Xiao Long, Minor Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Past Blake Belladonna/Adam Taurus, Sad Ruby Rose (RWBY), Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Volume 8 (RWBY), Volume 8 Episode 7 Rewrite, Worried cat girlfriend, kind of, not relationship thg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28296786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunnyB/pseuds/hunnyB
Summary: Atlas is falling before their very eyes, and Blake wonders how Yang is doing. Ruby thinks about her sister too and decides to share something with Blake.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Series: RWBY Fanfictions Volume 8 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2198331
Comments: 4
Kudos: 95





	Coffee and Tears

Blake has been worried sick for her partner since the moment she has last seen her, where the disagreement the blonde had with her younger sister had made the air too heavy for a warm goodbye. But Blake could not wrap her mind around it and order her thoughts - and the situation didn't give her the chance either - to try and guess what really caused her partner to respond like that to Ruby, and even though it wasn't thrown directly and only toward their leader, it sure felt strange to see the two argue so animately, something she's never seen happen in her life since she met them. Not over something so serious anyway.

Now Blake's attention was somewhere outside the window of Weiss' room as she sat near it while her other two teammates looked after Nora, still deeply injured and scared by the intense surge of electricity her body went through during their meeting with the Ace Ops.

Things here were not going smoothly at all. It actually couldn't go worse: Salem was attacking Atlas with no sign of holding back, armies of Grimm invading the floating city from every direction, air, ground, and field, and even though the Schnee's residence gave them a little more time to reorganize and hide, she wasn't sure for how much longer the manor would resist against the massive horde of Grimm outside. Even worse, Penny wasn't with them at the moment and Nora was still passed out on the bed, and Yang...

Yang was not there with her team, with _her_.

Blake sighed, her gaze shifting in a solid blink from tiredness to deep concern. She had the unsafe feeling that Yang was keeping something from her that was greatly plaguing her. Why did Yang not talk to her about whatever was haunting her?

Blake had come to terms with the selfless nature of her partner, but it still marveled her how Yang would never talk or express her own turmoils to look out for others'. She loved that about her too, but sometimes it was really too much to see her get hurt and suffer alone and yet swallowing it down to keep walking like she was okay.

"Ehi Blake." Ruby's tired and concerned voice woke her up from her own thoughts, and only then Blake noticed she was drifting off and almost fell asleep. She rubbed her eyes roughly to wake herself up and meanwhile saw the younger drink some coffee from her cup before handing her a similar one.

Blake accepted thankful and took instantly a first sip of the dark liquid both to warm up and let the coffee in her system. They stayed in silence, letting their mind wander off in their own privacy, but Ruby caught her attention again before she could turn back to stare out of the window.

"Blake?" she called with a timid voice, looking at her sister's partner with a somehow nervous expression. "Are you thinking about Yang?"

Blake's hold around the small cup stiffened imperceptibly, but the blush in her cheeks did nothing to hide the truth, and Ruby looked almost guiltily back at her. "I mean, I know you've been worried about her recently."

Blake's ears flattened backward and her lips pursed shily at the sudden inquisition. She glanced up at Ruby who was looking at her with pure curiosity, and the glimpse in her silver eyes seemed to conceal the absence of any second intent.

"Yeah, I know you are too, but she's strong. She can take care of herself." she responded, hoping the brief eye contact and the more across-the-board answer would mark her words with the self-confidence her voice lacked. But Ruby tightened her lips in what seemed a totally-not-convinced expression, moving closer to her with her still steamy mug and sitting down next to her.

"Blake, listen, I know this is not the best moment, but," Ruby said, stopping in the middle to look up and meet the Faunus' amber eyes with a cute shade of embarrassment in her owns. "I already know you... _care_ _care_ for my sister."

Blake's body almost instinctively curled around itself as her cheeks flushed red, seemingly really agitated about Ruby, Yang's precious sister, being aware of... well, her feelings for her sister.

"Ehi, don't make that face." She giggled, taking her cup to her lips to drink some more hot coffee and hide her own uneasiness. "I'm not judging you or anything. Far from it, actually."

As Ruby's expression shifted into a more serious one, Blake understood where their conversation was going and instantly recollected herself. They stayed in silence for a moment before Ruby eventually addressed her, letting out an uncharacteristic quivering sigh that instantly made Blake jump in alarm.

"You know." she started, her thumb caressing the side of the cup, and her eyes set in her reflection on the dark surface. "Since I was little and lost my mom, I've always looked up to Yang." She stopped to peer at Blake as if to ensure herself she was listening. "She's always been like a mom to me, and we've been close for as long as I can remember."

Blake nodded as pieces of the discussion she had once shared with Yang back at Beacon Academy about her past resurfaced with Ruby's words. That had been the first serious private discussion they had had, and she remembered how Yang had trusted her to the point of opening up about painful memories, only to convince her to rest from her persistent pursuit of Torchiwick and join Beacon's upcoming ball.

"But when things started to sink in, when I was older and capable to look after myself and _think_ , I started to understand and notice things that once didn't really cross my mind as out of order." Ruby explained to her, chin still low. "At school, I'd hear of parents taking care of the house and doing stuff that I've grown used to see my sister do. I'd also constantly hear of girls going out with boys, of older siblings traveling around the world as huntsmen with a proud family waiting for them at home... At first, I didn't overthink it, but only later did I realize how Yang never did any of that because she had to stay home and take care of me."

Since that discussion, Blake had thought to know how much her partner's difficult childhood had influenced her to what she actually was, but as she let those words sunk in, she realized that there still were some shocking facts that she had never really counted.

"Yang has... never dated anyone?"

It was silly, of all things she could have actually asked, the question that made it out of her lips happened to be what she was sincerely more curious about. And it wasn't only given her position as... well, someone who held strong feelings for the blonde, but also for her well-known partner's personality. Yang had always given the idea to be someone with a sort of experience in that area, but from Ruby's story, it sounded like Yang had actually never dated someone.

As expected, Ruby chuckled and Blake blushed. "Yang only ever dated a boy when dad and I forced her to take a night out, but only when she was much older. Before that, she always said that she didn't have time to think about that, but that she was still happy to occupy all her time with us." As she spoke, her curled-up lips turned down in a saddened expression.

"It's kinda sad. I've always felt like I robbed my sister of her own childhood," she added with a shaky voice. "But when I confronted her about it, she said that she'd do anything for me and that I had no reasons to apologize because she _chose_ to take care of me."

Tears welled up in Ruby's silver eyes and Blake was about to stand up and comfort her, but Ruby just sniffed and closed them, giving herself a moment. Blake once again allowed that and waited in patient silence.

"She could have abandoned me, you know? She could have just thought about herself or left me and my dad behind. Instead, even though she was alone with an _infant_ , she stayed and took care of me my whole life." At that point, fresh and salty tears were streaming down Ruby's face, staining her cheeks and the part of her cape wrapped around her neck.

"I owe her my life. I've always known I won't ever be able to pay that debt." Blake bit her lip when she spotted white dots clouding her own vision and made herself listen again to Ruby's heartbreaking story. "And yet, when she needed me after she lost her arm, I abandoned her."

 _I abandoned her too_ , Blake wanted to say, but kept it for herself, not wanting to interrupt Ruby and wherever that conversation was leading them to.

"I abandoned her even though I knew how much that made her suffer after Raven, and _mom_... And after you."

Even though she didn't voice it, Ruby knew Blake enough to fathom that the guilt she still felt for leaving them all behind after the events of Beacon, whatever her reason might have been at the time, was abysmal.

"That's mostly why I couldn't really blame you for leaving. I did the same to her." Ruby darkly chuckled, her voice still a little shaky since she was still crying, but more composed as she was starting to calm down. She glanced up at Blake and noticed her ashamed expression and her flattened ears.

"What I'm trying to say is... I know you feel guilty, and you and Yang already sorted things out, so I'm not really mad. Well, nor that I have the right to be, it would make me a hypocrite."

Blake shook her head. "Don't say that. You left because you believed you could still do something good and help people. Instead, I just _ran away_." She said, emphasizing the last words with all the hate and anger she still felt toward her own actions, even though at the time she thought she had the best reason.

"You had your own problems too, Blake. I'm not saying it was right of you to leave, but it was never really your fault."

"How Adam hurting Yang wasn't _my_ fault?" She said with a harsher tone, her voice shaking as she desperately held onto the now colder cup of coffee.

Ruby hesitated to talk, but Blake could still feel her worried gaze linger on her.

"Blake, you can take responsibility for your own actions, but you can't justify others'." she said, repeating somehow the same words Sun had told her back in Menagerie when Ilia had hurt him, the events transpired some weeks prior to the reunion with her team.

"I'm sorry, it just... kinda came out of its own." she confessed, breathing in and out slowly. At this point of her life, where they have shared so many bad memories and went through so many bad things, she was not worried about her closest friends, her family, knowing the weight and influence her past had, and still has, on her. "It'll take a while to get used to... not thinking the old way."

"What was the old way?" Ruby curiously but still tenderly asked, like someone who wanted to test the temperature of the water but still tentatively dipped a single finger in to not be burnt.

Blake looked down at her cup, taking a long sip as if to give herself the courage she needed: she wasn't quite sure why Ruby had started this conversation, especially in the precarious situation they were in, but maybe she had preferred to make Blake talk instead of leaving her to her own consuming thoughts.

"It just... I've always hated how Faunus were treated by most humans, but the more I look into it now, the more it comes to me that my interactions with Adam weren't really that different." she confessed, resting her half-empty cup over her thighs, looking straight at her twisted reflection. "He bent me to his own will with sweet words and promises of a better world, but in the end, it led up to nothing but pushing me to a darker path he had set himself."

"He would say things like I was nothing without him, that I did not understand our cause, that I didn't deserve the position I was given." It was getting more difficult to talk now, and at this point, Blake wasn't even sure if Ruby had wanted her to spill some things out from the start. "And added with the already bad life of a Faunus, I grew in a negative environment and I got used to see things under the worst light."

Blake bit back the tears threatening to fall, closing her eyes shut at the invading sensation. "That's why I ran away. You already shouldn't have forgiven me for what I did, and after Beacon... I didn't deserve you, any of you, _especially_ Yang." She declared with a saddened expression.

Again, silence fell on the room. Seconds passed, and the younger's lack of words didn't give her any hint of wanting to keep the conversation alive. Suddenly Blake felt very self-conscious and a familiar sense of guilt and shame made its way from her gut as she realized she had raised her voice to Ruby, whose only wish was to help her.

But before she could speak up and apologize, Ruby opened her mouth and the next words caused Blake's ears to shot up before her own head did.

"You actually helped Yang a lot too."

 _How could have I helped her_ , she thought, _when she's all the light in this world, and I'm the exact opposite_.

But Ruby was serious like she's rarely seen her be, and her expression alone seemed to chaise away from her brain her previous thought.

"Yang may seem the energetic type, but when it comes to people she cares about, she forces herself to keep things inside. Luckily she's always had a short temper, so she wouldn't just bottle them up. But since she met you..." Ruby paused, smiling kindly as memories of happier days flashed in her mind. "She found someone of her level, someone open to listen. I know she won't let me worry or tell me anything because she still sees me as someone to protect, but you... you came back for her, and promised you'd stay with her. No one has ever done that for her."

Blake blinked back the transparent confusion and dismay in her amber eyes as they dug deep into the silver ones, looking for an answer she hoped she would find in them. Ruby responded by staring back and setting a comfortable silence between the two.

"I'm not sure how she felt about me and Weiss leaving, even though she was _forced_ to, but I know for sure that with you... she was furious." She explained, remembering how red and full of rage her sister's eyes had turned when they talked about Blake back in Mistral. "What could her reason be?"

This time Blake looked really taken aback and broke eye contact with the younger. Ruby meanwhile proceeded to empty her cup's content and sighed happily at the pleasing feeling of the warm drink in her body. "I've taken more coffee on this last week than in my entire life." Ruby laughed, placing the empty cup on the glass table and turning her face to Blake who was still looking a bit troubled by her words.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Blake asked, fidgeting nervously with her hands on her lap.

Ruby sighed. "I don't know. We're stuck in this place for a bit and I know you've been really worried about her. I just felt like talking to you."

Blake met her eyes and saw her lips curled upward in a tender smile.

"You know, as her sister."

Blake hummed quietly. Her body relaxed and Ruby consequentially stood up, pointing at the large bed behind her shoulders. "I'm gonna check on Weiss and Nora." Blake nodded and Ruby turned around, giving her back to her, but before she could take too many steps away from her, Blake called her name and Ruby faced her again.

"I won't leave Yang again, I _swear_."

Ruby nodded, turned around, and wiped the tear that fell from her eye before anyone could notice, approaching Weiss beside Nora.

Blake followed her until she saw her sit next to Weiss and caress the heiress' back to give her comfort, to which the older answered by resting her head on Ruby's shoulder. Both that and the conversation they just had made Blake conscious of how stupid she's been to not see how strong and reliable Ruby really was, and also how she's always underestimated her. She realized how subconsciously used to Ruby's presence and leadership they were that they haven't really noticed how much of a support and comfort she was, and how much they rely on her even though she is the youngest.

Blake herself has always seen her as the childish and innocent type, nonetheless an exceptional leader and kind friend, but her character still lacked that maturity she has since time one seen in Yang, the type that scars you and opens you to the true cruelty of the world. However, since after Beacon's fall and team RWBY's reunion in Mistral, she was starting to see Ruby under a new light, more akin to Yang's: honesty and openness were still there, even if tamed, but were not caused by naivety and ignorance anymore. Now Ruby had witnessed how dirty and serious the job of huntsman and huntresses could be, but she still had that glowing spark of hope in her eyes that could ignite even the darkest souls.

Blake smiled, emptied her cup of coffee, now cold, and approached Ruby and Weiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Soo I've been working on this little thing ever since Volume 8 Episode 7 came out. I kind of needed something to distract me from this RWBY break that's killing me.  
> Blake and Yang are still divided and Blake just wants to call her gf and be sure she's okay even though we all know she's not (I've another angsty fic about a theory of mine for this one, I can't wait to write that too), but I also loved the few Ruby/Blake/Weiss scenes we've seen until now, like the one where Ruby rest her head on Blake's shoulder. They miss their mom but they're so cuuuuute.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!  
> And follow me on twitter (@FirecrackerKoG) for constant RWBY's updates and Fanfiction! 
> 
> Merry Christmas and stay safe!


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